While visiting family in Massachusetts this summer, my wife and I took a detour to search for the…read moreDambo trolls in RI. Our first stop was in East Providence, to see Mrs Skipper. A fun installation watching over the waterfront. She was can be a bit difficult to find. The address we found online brough us to the parking lot for a medical center, but instead, we needed to pull into a driveway before this locations, and go down the hill towards the water front and greenway. She's a little off the beaten path, but a fun design, holding an actual steel boat over her head as she heads to the water. Worth checking out if you're in the area. Though, there is signage saying you're not supposed to walk down on the rocks in front of her, though that is where the actual signage for her is located. I think it's more of a liability thing, there is no one there policing where you do and don't go, just proceed with caution.

I enjoy the Thomas Dambo's recycled sculptures and they are now on my list of things to see when…read moretraveling! Mrs. Skipper is on a small rocky peninsula near a boardwalk over the bay. You are not supposed to walk out on said rocky outcrop and a sign at the entrance says the area is off limits. Still, plenty of intrepid adventurers were out there getting a closer look. There is plenty of parking for the Urban Coastal Greenway behind a huge Orthopedic building. Follow the paved trail down to the main trail, turn left and then take your first right. This part of the path is in a bit of disrepair, but I did see a couple of strollers on the path here so it's passable. Once on the boardwalk, you can look off to the south and see Mrs. Skipper perched on her rock. I am sad it's not easily accessible to the little one's. The details though are all there and it's Mrs. Skipper seems to be enjoying her perch.

This old swing bridge goes over the Providence River and opened in 1927; replacing an old bridge…read morethat was built in 1872. It is on Point Street, hence the name. This bridge connects two neighborhoods Wickenden Street and the Jewelry District. The last time it moved was in 1959, because it's a swing bridge, however, it is now fixed in place; there is no use for it now since large boats cannot come through due to the hurricane barrier. There are sidewalks and it's a great view of the river when walking across it. I gave it three stars because it needs a new paint job, it had lots of graffiti on it. Overall, it plays an important role with connecting neighborhoods and a popular road well traveled by the Rhode Islanders.

The Point Street Bridge is a movable bridge that crosses the Providence River in Providence,…read morecarrying Point Street from the Jewelry District to Wickenden Street at the base of College Hill. For many years, it was the only bridge connecting those two sections of the city until the Pedestrian Bridge opened in 2019. Still if you are driving, this is the most convenient link for motorists. The bridge used to be a swing bridge for many years, but no more. The bridge no longer opens for boats. The bridge has no opened for boats since 1959. The Fox Point Hurricane Barrier constructed in 1966 ensured that this river would never again be navigable for significant boat traffic. An earlier swing bridge at this location was an iron bowstring span dating to 1872. Today, lots of graffiti cover the metal beams and supports, but still, it is a pretty sight, especially at dawn and at night, when it is lit.

Very lovely spot though you should arm yourself with some bug spray as it was a bit buggy when I…read morevisited the other night. If you enjoy nature and the sweet sound of rushing water, then this is a place you must visit. While I was taking in the sounds of the birds, frogs and rushing water a Great Blue Heron gracefully glided past me and landed in the water just at the base of the water fall. While I was watching him he was surely watching, waiting for his dinner to come flipping over the falls. A place where the water, trees, birds and fish come together in harmony.

The Shad Factory Pond is one of my favorite outdoor escapes to visit. Wonderful place to go, walk…read morearound, admire the beauty that is the countryside, clear your head, and learn a little bit about wildlife along the way. No real parking in the area, just pull your car off the road in the dirt/grass. The Shad Factory pond is a fresh water pond, containing a dam and waterfall with a large amount of greenery to go along with it. Within minutes of stepping foot on the shore you are surrounded by tall plant life, flowers, dragonflys darting around, lilies sprouting up out of the water. Absolutely beautiful! One of the most interesting things to see here is the fish ladder that was recently rebuilt in 2007. The old one fell into disrepair (as it had been originally built in 1911). A fish ladder is a series of, in this case, concrete steps with rushing water that lead from the Palmer River up to the pond itself. Rehoboth is home to one of two remaining American Shad runs in coastal Massachusetts. This fish ladder allows eels, trout, herring, and you guessed it. . . shad to swim upstream to the fresh water pond for mating season. Prior to its being rebuilt, the fish population had sharply decreased. The address I posted is not specific to the pond itself but gives you a general idea of where along the road it is located. As it is October and Halloween is fast approaching, I will mention that this place has a bit of a ghost legend associated with it. Though I have never encountered anything during my time here, there are many reports of a man in dark clothes appearing and vanishing in the surrounding woods along with strange white lights and overwhelming feelings of terror. Beware!

I visited the Arnold House for the last tour of the day. The tour guide is really knowledgeable…read moreand they take you all the way up to the attic. The house is very minimalistic in its contents, but the main focus is the architecture. Free parking is available at the park next to the house. There is one bathroom available for use.

Today, Historic New England, the group that manages and maintains Arnold House, offered free tours…read moreof all their properties. I had visited Arnold House back in 2021 but the interior was closed. Today, I got a great tour of the inside. The family that originally built and lived in the house in the late 17th and early 18th century had 10 children and lived in the space of one large living/ great room, one kitchen, one huge bedroom for the entire family on the second floor and a spacious attic for storage and maybe also a few kids. The docents here were extremely knowledgeable about the site and friendly, encouraging questions and photos. There are also beautiful, short trails around the property as well as a small picnic area near the parking area.

Benefit Street is a nice little walk and The Shunned House is a sweet little surprise. What I like…read moreabout The Shunned House is that you would have NO CLUE that this house was significant amongst the others in the surrounding areas. The armory down the street stands out a lot more than the lil house that HPLovecraft wrote about. Still it's a great side trip that will only take seconds out of your day if you are in or around the colleges in the area. This is obviously a residence and they have since named the house after someone but you can see the wall that used to be used as the front of the house and the descriptions stand strong in Lovecraft's writing. No big deal but I liked being there and seeing it.

I was going to write about this curiousity, but I realized I couldn't do any better than what…read morebrought me in the first place: "The house was--and for that matter still is--of a kind to attract the attention of the curious. Originally a farm or semi-farm building, it followed the average New England colonial lines of the middle eighteenth century--the prosperous peaked-roof sort, with two stories and dormerless attic, and with the Georgian doorway and interior panelling dictated by the progress of taste at that time. It faced south, with one gable end buried to the lower windows in the eastward rising hill, and the other exposed to the foundations toward the street. Its construction, over a century and a half ago, had followed the grading and straightening of the road in that especial vicinity; for Benefit Street--at first called Back Street--was laid out as a lane winding amongst the graveyards of the first settlers, and straightened only when the removal of the bodies to the North Burial Ground made it decently possible to cut through the old family plots. "At the start, the western wall had lain some twenty feet up a precipitous lawn from the roadway; but a widening of the street at about the time of the Revolution sheared off most of the intervening space, exposing the foundations so that a brick basement wall had to be made, giving the deep cellar a street frontage with door and two windows above ground, close to the new line of public travel. When the sidewalk was laid out a century ago the last of the intervening space was removed; and Poe in his walks must have seen only a sheer ascent of dull grey brick flush with the sidewalk and surmounted at a height of ten feet by the antique shingled bulk of the house proper. "The farm-like grounds extended back very deeply up the hill, almost to Wheaton Street. The space south of the house, abutting on Benefit Street, was of course greatly above the existing sidewalk level, forming a terrace bounded by a high bank wall of damp, mossy stone pierced by a steep flight of narrow steps which led inward between canyon-like surfaces to the upper region of mangy lawn, rheumy brick walls, and neglected gardens whose dismantled cement urns, rusted kettles fallen from tripods of knotty sticks, and similar paraphernalia set off the weather-beaten front door with its broken fanlight, rotting Ionic pilasters, and wormy triangular pediment. "What I heard in my youth about the shunned house was merely that people died there in alarmingly great numbers. That, I was told, was why the original owners had moved out some twenty years after building the place. It was plainly unhealthy, perhaps because of the dampness and fungous growth in the cellar, the general sickish smell, the draughts of the hallways, or the quality of the well and pump water. These things were bad enough, and these were all that gained belief among the persons whom I knew. Only the notebooks of my antiquarian uncle, Dr. Elihu Whipple, revealed to me at length the darker, vaguer surmises which formed an undercurrent of folklore among old-time servants and humble folk; surmises which never travelled far, and which were largely forgotten when Providence grew to be a metropolis with a shifting modern population." H.P. Lovecraft, The Shunned House Be mindful that this is a private residence. Please be respectful.

DO NOT STAY HERE: I stayed at the lighthouse for one night. That amounted to $600, and that's with…read morehaving to wait two years for my stay. The lighthouse itself was fine. If you can get around the bugs and the dust and being stranded for 24 hours in the middle of the ocean, you may enjoy yourself. My primary concern is the lack of safety aboard the lighthouse and the lack of care for same. At 7:30 in the morning, a strange man rolled up next to the lighthouse so close as if he was going to tie. I informed the owner, Kevin, that this happened and his response was, " Oh, probably just a fisherman. I have no control over who comes up to the lighthouse because it's public waters." I am a young female, who was staying completely alone. No locks on the doors or windows, including the bathroom door, and this is in Fall River - one of the most dangerous cities in Massachusetts. Days after my stay, the owner decided to contact me and chew me out for not giving a $50 tip. I have no idea where $50 came into play. I would never tip anyone $50 even if they cleaned my entire bathroom with their tongue. But he kept insisting that I owed him $50 for a tip and also calling it a "fee". I have worked in hospitality and tourism for the last five years, and I have never expected, chased a guest for, or been angry about not receiving a tip. I've also never stipulated the amount I was to be tipped. I found the owner wildly unprofessional, rude, and money hungry. He was not at all concerned about the safety of me or other guests for that matter. I would consider myself to be a pretty good guest. I cleaned up after myself and I even did a little extra cleaning for them, since the lighthouse really needed it. But I was met with nasty text messages days after my departure about a $50 tip that they felt entitled to. I'd also like to mention that I'm a cancer patient in my 20's and this is a grown man who makes at least $600 a night per guest and he still had the nerve to try something like this.

What an awesome lighthouse to visit! We had a lot of fun here. Nick has done a phenomenal job…read morerestoring this lighthouse, he provided the ride out and he was a fantastic host! You can spend the night here giving you the ability to live and understand the life and role of a 19th century lighthouse keeper. The lighthouse is equipped with modern day conveniences such as a modernized kitchen with a sink, refrigerator, microwave, gas cook-top stove, dinnerware and fresh drinking water. It also has solar electricity and indoor heat. There is a bathroom with an eco-friendly vanity & toilet but there is no shower. There is one queen size mattress, a sofa & chairs with a flat screen TV & DVD. You will also find an outdoor propane BBQ that you can cook on as well. You are allowed to bring alcohol, there is NO swimming and no smoking. Check it out!

What a beautiful experience!! Went with my family and what an informative event with top notch…read morestaff who truly love the volunteer work they do at the lighthouse. The boat ride was very relaxing and the entire trip was flawless by a very professional staff. It was very easy to find, it's 2025 folks just use gps on your phone and it's just over the Providence line. Found a great breakfast spot nearby afterwards All Favorites Cafe another gem. Highly recommend without any reservations!!

Maybe it's awesome but we never made it...the directions take you to a waste management site that…read moreyou can't enter. Really disappointing since we went out of our way to stop their on our road trip.

Fantastic site, obviously tucked away and not a popular site, but very informative with a staff…read morethat's obviously passionate about Nathanael Greene and revolutionary war history. When we showed up, there were no other visitors so we basically had a private tour. One guide gave us some information outside and handed off to another guide inside (because they both were available, I don't think this is typical) and we got so much information on the house, the Greene family, and Greene's family after the war. Greene was so important during the war but isn't as remembered because he died early. There is a claim Greene's wife was instrumental in the development of the cotton gin, but that might be more family lore. Still, it was fun. It's open seasonally, and the staff seem mostly like volunteers who are in it for the passion. The gift store is small but has some nice items. It's in a residential neighborhood as that developed later, so you really have to seek it out, but it's worth the visit.

Please do not miss this wonderful piece of history. The grounds and the house are well kept to the…read moreera! Better than all of thus, these all volunteer docents are a wealth of knowledge and bring the heritage snd history to life! Nathanael Greene is a great American hero and his families legacy only lives on with string education and those who attend to this hidden treasure in the hills of Coventry, RI